Nostalgia is something we all feel at some point in our lives. There is no way any one of us can escape it, because it is human nature to look back and sigh. I looked back and sighed this weekend, or rather I looked up and sighed. Yesterday was the annual balloon race down at Forrest Park.
When I was a child, we lived in the city, the very place so recently declared as the most dangerous city in the United States. I’m not going to lie, there were many nights were I heard what Mom called “a car backfiring”, but it wasn’t all bad. I remember Mom always tried to find fun, family-oriented things to do for us. One of my more vivid memories is going to Forrest Park and watching the balloons take off.
There they were large colorful carcasses balefully lying on the neatly trimmed grass. Even in rest the balloons looked magnificent to the young child that I was. Bouncing on the balls of my feet I tried to get a better look, but Mother’s hand kept me close to her side. Patience, always she preached to me of patience. I had to be patient in order to see the balloons.
Then after an eternity of child’s time, the balloons began to inflate. Great blasts of flame sucking air into the massive structure like the inverse of a dragon. Slowly the heaving sacks would take shape and dangle precariously above the Earth by a few feet, still tethered as I was to my mother.
The balloons were a sight to see waging war with the trees in a bid for space. Bright colors amid a canvas of green. When they took of it was as if I was with them. Flying high over the city, wind blowing in my face. I had all the emotion of a take off but I remained on the ground with my mother—unable to fly and soar.
Throughout the day we would watch for the balloons as we went about our other errands. They were always there, parading across the horizon. I always looked for the Energizer Bunny Balloon. In my heart of hearts I wanted that Bunny to win the race. And it never occurred to me that it didn’t always win because by nature the Energizer Bunny is supposed to keep going and going and going. I never supposed that would even stop, it was after all the Bunny.
When we moved out of the city to the suburbs, we never went back to the balloon race. We made new traditions of course, but a part of my heart still aches. I didn’t even realize that my heart hurt until last night when I saw the Energizer Bunny gliding across the sky, leading the pack of conventional balloons to glory. I kept my eyes on them as long as I could and sighed when they disappeared beneath the tree line as we drove through Old Webster. Nostalgia bit a hole in my heart and it aches knowing that it is missing some valuable piece. At times like this I miss my childhood, and wish I could charter a balloon to Never Never Land.
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